Thursday, June 10, 2010

Yesterday I checked our YouTube Inbox and there was a message from a guy in Nashville. He had some constructive criticism about our "Homemade Steadycam" video. I thought I would share:

Hey guys, I've only seen one of your videos so far...well, I'm a 62 year old granddad and only have so much time to spend on YouTube.... Anyway, as an old pro musician/entertainer/producer et al, I want to compliment you on your work, your creativity and mostly....your style. You guys are very entertaining and I look forward to watching more of your productions.

The video I saw was your steady-cam project...something I'll probably work on a different design for my own hi-def videoing. Here's my constructive criticism... I have moderate hearing loss in the high frequency range and have trouble understanding voices that aren't clean and clear. I had trouble understanding what you guys were saying...for a couple of reasons. One, you could stand to enunciate your speech more distinctly, but the second point would help even more....GET A COUPLE OF MICROPHONES ON BOOMS (OUT OF THE FRAME) UP ABOVE YOUR HEADS AND AS CLOSE TO YOU AS POSSIBLE. That would improve the sound situation a thousand percent. Even cheap mics up close would be better than the camcorder mic at the distance you were working on the video I saw.

That's my 2 cents. If you've already worked out your audio bugs, please disregard my tip. And keep up the good work fellas!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

So here is some footage I shot of some elephant seals just north of Cambria, CA. They gather here every year to molt their skin. And they smell terrible. I used my new Canon Rebel T2i with the 18-55mm kit lens.

We're going to use this camera to shoot some new projects. A new 55-250mm Canon lens just came in today, so I'll be posting some test footage soon.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

We're back after a little hiatus, with new projects, beer, and a new human. That's right, Kevin and his lovely wife Katie are expecting a girl in August! Can you believe it? We'll be posting some short stuff soon and are working on a special project for the summer. In the meantime, get into a comfortable position wherever you're reading this, have a beer, or a shot, or a doob, or some keyboard cleaner - and take a long, hard look at the picture attached to this post (you can click on the pic). You'll thank me.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Here is the first of three internet commercials CarBoy Films shot for a company called amishcondoms.com. These guys literally sell wooden condoms. They look like tall skinny birdhouses. We shot these back in April, but we are just now at liberty to put them up on the blog.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Father of Our Country loved his beer. English–style porter was George Washington’s drink of choice and whenever he could he would seek out the product ofRobert Hare, a brewer in Philadelphia who was one of the first to make porter in the U.S.Washington was no stranger to homebrew either and this recipe from a personal notebook he kept will make 30 gallons of ale, enough for a large household like Mount Vernon.

"Take a large Sifter full of Bran,Hops to your Taste---Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gallons into a Cooler put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler. Strain the Beer on it while boiling hot let this stand til it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold cover it over with a Blanket. Let it work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask. leave the Bung open til it is almost done working---Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."

"To Make Small Beer” is the title of this recipe.“Small beer” is normally brewmade from the second runnings through the mash forstrong ale and the beer that is created hasvery little alcohol (about 3%). However, a note on the NPR website says that the above recipe produces a beer with an alcohol content of about 11 %. If this was George’s “small beer” then consumption of his “large beer” must have somehow disrupted space-time for its imbiber. Compare that ABV to a popular modern American brew, say Sam Adams Boston Lager at 4.9%, and you realize that “Town Destroyer”, as the Iroquois nicknamed Washington, wasn’t effin around. In fact, I think he might have been trying to kill himself and the people around him.

So if you try this recipe use caution (or just less molasses) and for God’s sake send us pictures of the aftermath.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Having been inspired by the film, "The Five Obstructions", we went to friend and screenwriter Bob DeRosa. He gave us a demanding list of obstructions to remake our short film: "The Unicorn." Take a look at the most recent installment to the Unicorn Obstructions.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We just officially launched the new CarBoy Films Website a couple of days ago. We are really excited about it. All our videos are there as well as some nice things to look at. Please go visit the site and let us know what you think:http://www.carboyfilms.com

We're still going to post new videos to this blog, but now we also get to use the blog as more of a blog. We'll be posting more CarBoy Films news, articles, and essays about the things we think are interesting enough to be on a blog. You'll find many of our usual favorite subjects like filmmaking, beer, and filmmaking about beer. But we'll be sharing so much more. Stay tuned and go to the website!